May 16, 2011

Recipe: Yogurt Chicken with Chutney Yogurt Sauce

This photo the best I can do. The final dish was delicious but it’s all gone and I figured a shot of the bones wasn’t going to cut it. So here are some of the spices you’ll need. Trust me, you’ll be glad you rummaged about in the cupboard for that hidden jar of allspice. The resulting sauce was so tasty I used what little was left over as salad dressing.

This recipe comes from 100 Perfect Pairings: main dishes to enjoy with wines you love. My cyber-friend Jill Silverman Hough (we’ve emailed but never met) is the author behind this brilliant little book. When I asked her favourite recipe picks, she named some dishes, but diplomatically suggested my recipe-first approach needed a tweek. She wrote:

 

My advice? Pick a wine you like, then pick a recipe in that wine’s chapter…  I think you’ll be most likely to find something that’ll really turn you on that way.

She was right. While it’s not hard to get me excited about a delivery system for shiraz or cabernet frac, I get sulky when confronted by a chardonnay. But with a mom and two sisters more inclined to off-dry-pushing-sweet whites, I figured this was an opportunity to compromise. So I gave Gewurztraminer, my mom’s favourite, a try. And I’m glad I did.

While Jill intended to write a book on wine pairing, I am going to suggest she wrote a book that could broker peace talks. After all, she convinced this red wine lover to see things from the other side. With 100 Perfect Pairings as an aide, I’ll have a diplomatic dish at the ready for future encounters with viognier, riesling and even (gulp) rose. Only one question remains. Is  my spice-phobic family willing to come to the table and negotiate in good faith?
[print_this]

: Yogurt Chicken with Chutney Yogurt Sauce

Excerpt with permission from 100 Perfect Pairings: Main dishes to enjoy with the wines you love by Jill Silverman Hough. Published by John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Don’t let the simplicity of this recipe fool you — it has layers of war, complex flavour. Get it started in advance of serving, though, so the chicken has ample time to marinate

  • 2 cups plain yogurt (low-fat is okay)
  • 4 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press or minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 6 chicken leg quarters or 6 legs and 6 thighs
  • 1/3 cup mango chutney
  1. In a medium bowl, combing the yogurt, garlic, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, allspice, cardamom, and coriander. (You can prepare the yogurt mixture up to 3 days in advance, storing it covered in the refrigerator.)
  2. Divide the chicken between two larger resealable bags. Add 1/2 cup of the yogurt mixture to each bag and seal, squeezing out as much air as possible. Set the chicken aside in the refrigerator for 6 to 12 hours, turning occasionally. Refrigerate the remaining yogurt mixture.
  3. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  4. Arrange the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet, squeezing the yogurt mixture out of the bag and over the chicken. Bake for 45 minutes, until cooked through.
  5. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the remaining yogurt mixture and the chutney and pulse to chop the chutney.
  6. Serve the chicken hot, with the chutney yogurt mixture spooned on top.

Food and wine tip: If you like things with a little kick, use hot mango chutney in this recipe — the warmth nicely complements the spice notes in the wine.

Meal type: dinner

[/print_this]

Filed Under: Recipes